Happy Thanksgiving!!! Y’all I have been fortunate to find a good supply of Vintage Shiny Brite Ornaments and I love using them at Christmas. However, I get so many questions about where I get my faded, rustic ornaments. To be quite honest they can be hard to find and are quite pricey. Sooooo………
Here is the absolute easiest way to age new Christmas Ornaments to make them look like vintage shiny brites.
I have tried several methods that I’ve seen online and nothing really worked well for me until my shiny light bulb in my brain finally went off. So here’s my ah ha moment and how to do it!.
These are my inspiration ornaments. I’ve been collecting these for several years and they are the real deal.

Supplies needed to Age Ornaments
- Matt Mod Podge
- Black Craft Paint
- Small Paint Brush
- Paper Towels
- New or semi new Glass Ornaments

Prep Work
First, protect your table or work area. Then remove the hangers from the ornaments and set them aside to add back once your ornaments are aged and dried.
Here is a small supply of new ornaments that are going to be aged.

Here I’ve added a few vintage ornaments for comparison and inspiration.
3 ornaments of each color are vintage and in second photo 2 gold vintage ornaments for inspiration
You can see the aging of this vintage ornament up close. This is the look we want to achieve by using this technique.
Most of my vintage ornaments no longer have a smooth surface and are no longer as shiny as the new ornaments due to the natural aging process.

Paint
In order to age your new ornaments, you will want to add just a touch of black paint to your matt mod podge. However, you only need a touch of the black to make a transparent, grayish appearance.
Then begin to brush over the entire surface of your ornament to apply an aged appearance to your new Christmas ornaments.
New Ornament Vs. Ornament covered in mod podge mixture.
Rub off any excess mod podge gently with a paper towel. The ornament will be practically dry at this point, however place on a piece of wax paper or other smooth surface to allow to completely dry.
Cover the ornament complete and rub of any excess with a paper towel.

New Ornament vs. covered in mixture and then after wiping off with paper towel.
The ornament on the left, in the below photo, is the original shiny brite vintage ornament and the one on the right is the faux aged ornament. Hard to tell the difference.

Here are three gold ornaments that I started with. Can you tell which one has been aged with this easy technique? Hint: The new ornament doesn’t have it’s hanger replaced yet. LOL

The Aged Ornaments
Here are the vintage ornaments and the new ornaments that have been aged to look vintage.
Note: You will notice that some ornaments age easier than others. When wiping off the excess mixture from the ornaments, be cautious to rub gently until you see how the ornament reacts to the mod podge. You can see that the green ornaments lost more of the color than the gold and blue. If I had rubbed vigorously, I could have removed most of the color.

Vintage and Aged Together
Here is a mix of actual vintage ornaments with the aged ones and it is hard to tell the difference.

Another project is to repurpose several old Christmas decorations and you can see some of the results here.
In addition, here is a Easy 2 Step method to Flock a Christmas Tree.

This is such an easy project and I hope you give it a try. Another easy project is how to make a dried fruit and herb garland.
Thanks so much for stopping by today. I look forward to sharing my next adventure with you.

PIN IT TO REMEMBER IT

Michelle | Thistle Key Lane
Monday 7th of December 2020
I can't wait to try this technique on some of our ornaments. It's hard to believe how much better they are with a little aged character. Look for your post to be featured this week at the Tuesday Turn About Link Party!
rahrags@gmail.com
Tuesday 8th of December 2020
Michelle, I really appreciate this. Can't wait to see.
Cindy@CountyRoad407
Thursday 3rd of December 2020
Just popping in to let you know I'm featuring this fabulousness on the Farmhouse Friday Link Party. This was aaahhhmazing and your are a genius! I loved learning how to do this! Thank you for linking up. We greatly appreciate you!
rahrags@gmail.com
Thursday 3rd of December 2020
Cindy, You are the best. Thanks so much.
Cindy
Saturday 28th of November 2020
Hi Rachel! I recently got a box of shiny brites from family that I wanted to decorate my tree with this year! I was worried I wouldn’t have enough but by trying this technique I might be able to pull it off!👏Thankyou for sharing- I can’t wait to try it!:) I’m pinning this so I don’t forget!:)
rahrags@gmail.com
Sunday 29th of November 2020
Cindy, It worked great on mine. I hope you have good luck as well.
Barbara at Mantel and Table
Saturday 28th of November 2020
Wow - what a great job Rachel! I hope you can still tell the difference when it's time to put them away! :) I love your beautiful tree!
rahrags@gmail.com
Saturday 28th of November 2020
Barbara, I really appreciate you for stopping by.
Debra Oliver
Friday 27th of November 2020
Your new "aged" ornaments look amazing. I would never have thought of this technique, they look like the real deal. The vintage ones are getting so hard to find! Hope you're having a wonderful weekend!
rahrags@gmail.com
Saturday 28th of November 2020
Debra, Thanks so much for stopping by! So glad you liked this.